German patent application DE3932909A1 includes the features of the preamble of claim 1 and describes a dashboard of a motor vehicle comprising two glove box compartments, which are arranged one above the other and are provided with respective doors which are upwardly and, respectively, downwardly pivotable to open the glove box compartments.
The doors are held closed by a closing mechanism borne on a support structure arranged in a fixed position between the two glove box compartments. The closing mechanism comprises, for each door, a relative latch, which is movable between an engaged position, in which the door is held in the closed position, and a disengaged position, in which the door is released.
The latches can be fastened in the engaged position, either together or separately, by operating a key lock, which is also borne on the support structure between the two glove box compartments.
The known solution described above falls short of being satisfactory, in that the dimensions of the closing mechanism and the position in which the closing mechanism must be arranged on the dashboard between the two glove box compartments constitute constraints which are extremely limiting for the design of the space in the two glove box compartments and the design of the external profile of the dashboard and of the doors in terms of their aesthetical appearance. In particular, the outer edge of the doors must be appropriately shaped so as to define a recess to allow access to the lock and to the buttons that control the release of the latches.